Debt
by Oceanwind
Summary: "If you tell anyone I'll more than raise your debt... I'll kill you in your sleep," she hissed. Zoro is getting frustrated with his ever rising debt to Nami. When things come down to it, everything has a reason. Friendship fic, romance if you squint ZoNa


**Disclamier: **One Piece does not belong to me. Sorry folks... if I did there would at least be _some_ romance between the characters there that was actual solid evidence.

**Debt **

"This is ridiculous woman," he snarled as he flexed his fingers itching to draw his sword but he withheld. She was a woman after all, a devil of a woman that could take care of herself but liked to pretend she couldn't at times, but a woman none the less.

"I think it's fair considering you haven't paid anything so far," she said, folding her arms smugly while a devilish smirk crossed her face.

"I never even spent your money!" He hissed taking a step closer to her. She just shrugged and winked before walking off in some opposite direction. She knew him too well and he knew it was rather pointless to argue.

And he wanted to yell in frustration, like he had done often times before, he wanted to cuss and call her a devil, but he found he couldn't. He felt his lips purse in disgust as he sighed and decided to ignore her. He could do that; he would ignore her while he found a way to pay off his debt. With that thought in mind he stormed off to the other side of the boat, brewing and steaming on the inside. He ignored Luffy's request for him to play and leaned against the railing and stared out into the sea.

She was his navigator, his nakama, but often times… often times he wanted to string her up and toss her into Davy Jones's locker without a second thought. That was a lie; he was just so frustrated with her. He couldn't fight with her like he could with the love cook. He couldn't punch or kick her, even though she could knock him out when she wanted to. He couldn't even tease her nowadays with that damn love cook flocking around her.

He sighed as he searched for his secret stash of alcohol; he just needed to forget about this situation for now, because thinking about it gave him a head ache. It wasn't like he could make heads or tails of the situation anyways. He avoided the cook as sneaked into the kitchen. He pulled open the fridge door and kept one eye open, searching for a bottle blindly with his hand. He hoped the stupid cook wasn't going to use any for cooking later or he would be in trouble.

A small smile formed on his lips as his hand made contact with the cool glass that contained the inviting liquid. He pulled it from the cooler with ease and popped open the lid before taking a deep swig. He swiftly exited the kitchen, still seeing no sign of the love cook before he made his way back towards the spot he had been. Leaning against the railing he sighed in content as he stared out into the ocean for a moment. Maybe he should take the next watch it would be nice to get off the crazy part of the cramped deck.

He clambered up to the nest and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the infamous orange hair.

"Nami?" he whispered feeling his facial features harden as he studied her. Something was off. Her eyes were red and puffy and liquid seemed to be running down her chin. Since when did his strong and fierce friend cry? It wasn't like her and despite his usual disinterest in this type of thing he found that he wanted to know what was up. Just moments ago she had been fine on the deck below, she had been chatting with Robin while she avoided the love cook, and she had brought up his ever growing debt.

The wind blew and she smiled softly as she lowered her head and hummed lightly acknowledging him, before sitting down and leaning against the small wall of the crow's nest.

"I'll leave you be then," he said as he turned around to descend back down to the main deck.

"You should stay until the alcohol wears off," she said quietly.

"I can hold my liquor a lot better than you can," he snapped rounding around to face her.

"Wanna bet?" she asked in an innocent way. She was anything but innocent, the whole crew knew that. Hadn't she just been crying? Now she was here trying to strike up a bet with him. What an odd woman. It was probably her way of getting comfort.

The thought rang true, before he opened his mouth to protest, he could offer her this little comfort. Money was always comforting to this girl, even if he had none to his name he would work to pay her back. Plus if he won he might shave off a decent amount of money off his debt.

"You're on," he said sitting down next to her.

She whipped out a few cups, much to his surprise and poured them each a drink from a bottle she had concealed behind her back. And here he was thinking they were close to running out of liquor, he should have known she would have her own stash squirrelled away.

"Scared?" she asked smiling as she raised her cup. She peered over it, taunting him with her eyes. Those light brown eyes that could resemble gold almost literally when she was thinking about money.

"Never," he growled as he raised his own cup. Their glasses clinked quietly together, a signal for them both to tip back the liquid into their mouths.

They went at it for hours. He found himself smiling as the liquid burned his insides and loosened his muscles, and he liked the light feeling in his head. The stress of training and having to worry about a life debt gone as the alcohol made him forget about these worries. He still remembered them, but they didn't seem as stressful as they had been earlier.

"We just might drink ourselves to death," Nami giggled. Her face was flushed as the liquid slowly took its toll.

"We should be 'hic' careful in case one of us 'hic' passes out," she added as an afterthought. They had agreed earlier that that would determine the winner by who passed out first. "I don't wanna wake up to a dead Zoro," she teased elbowing him lightly in the ribs.

"Why? Because then you'd lose out on all that money I owe?" he knew his tone was harsh, and he knew she didn't really feel that way.

He knew they were friends and they cared about each other. He knew that. He knew she couldn't stand to see people get hurt, and that she hid behind her love for money as a ruse to not let herself feel like she was so attached to them all. She trusted them and worried about them but she didn't want them to know that she loved them. She just wanted to hide behind money just like she used to because money couldn't betray her like people did.

"Do you really think that?" she asked. Tears seemed like they were building in her eyes and he felt his heart skip a beat. He was never good with crying girls. He swallowed trying to rack his brain. What exactly had he said out loud? He couldn't remember. Did he just say everything he thought?

"Do I really think what?" he asked lowly trying to keep his head from spinning. It was rather windy up here in the crow's nest.

"Do you think all I care about is money?"

This was dangerous ground. This was Nami, and even she claimed all she cared about was money and her precious tangerines. If he answered wrong she could raise his debt and that was really the last thing he wanted, it already grew enough on its own without his help.

"I know that's not true," he said quietly, lowering his head so she wouldn't have to make eye contact with him. She could keep her pride and cry tears in front of him, he would pretend he had never seen.

"How do you know?" she asked hiccupping.

"We're the Straw Hat pirates. I don't need to know any more than that to know that Luffy wouldn't have you on this ship if he thought you had a bad character and didn't care about this crew," he paused and took another deep swig from his bottle that Nami had given him. The devilish woman had her own stash but she had hardly touched it. It was almost as if she was saving it for a time like this. He didn't get an answer back and looked up to see Nami sleeping with her head on her shoulder, and a brilliant smile staining her lips.

"Oi, Nami, wake up," he said reaching up to push her shoulder lightly.

"Hmmm?" she blinked a few times.

"You lost," he said smugly and stood up, feeling the ship rock beneath him and his legs as well.

"You woke me up for that?" she hissed her eyes immediately burning with a passion and something else mysterious.

Zoro just rubbed the back of his head sheepishly for a moment, he was just trying to brag about winning that was all, but that was obviously a mistake.

"That should be a 'waking up the navigator' fine."

He could have sworn she just sprouted horns.

"You're confusing," he said shrugging and stood up. He ignored her blubbering about being too drunk as he made his way towards the later. "I've had enough of this. One moment you're crying and I'm trying to do what I do in my own way to comfort you and then the next you're attempting to raise my debt again even though you lost the bet," it must have been the alcohol talking for him. He never really voiced so much out loud, especially stuff like crying. Crying seemed like a really personal subject that one did not bring up lightly.

"Wait… Zoro," Nami grabbed his wrist before he could go down the latter. If he really wanted to he could have pulled himself out of her grasp but something was stopping him. He'd hear her out, even if he didn't need to. She was his friend, and he'd do anything for her. That's just what friend's do, isn't it?

"I know… I know you are sick of this whole debt thing… but it's the one thing I have," she took a deep breath and cut herself off. Her face turned a small shade of red as she stared out into the ocean.

"The one thing you have?" he asked feeling more confused.

"It's the one thing I have to make you stay so you can't leave," she whispered her hand flexing over his with a little more force before she dropped it like she had been burned.

"Sanji is probably finishing up dinner," she said quickly as she turned her body completely away from him so he couldn't see her face. He didn't need to see it to know that she was fighting tears and a fierce blush.

"You aren't scared that I'll leave… are you?" he asked his voice adopting a teasing tone because he wasn't sure how else he could steer this conversation. She was scarred to lose him? Why? His mind was racing before it came to a conclusion. They were all friends here and the word friend and its meaning was a very touchy word for both Nami and Chopper, so that meant she was scarred to lose him as a friend.

"Yes," she whispered so quietly that her voice barely carried with the wind. For some reason the way she said it made him think that she would be more than devastated if he ever left. His gut tightened slightly.

"Even without your ever rising debt… I'd never leave," he paused before placing his hand on her shoulder and giving it a small squeeze.

"Well I'm keeping it there anyways just in case," she said smiling and turning to face him. Her eyes were puffed just ever so slightly and she winked bringing more of his focus to her eyes. She had beautiful eyes and before he knew it he had his arms around her. He was holding her because it just felt right and he was tired of being so frustrated with her. They needed a moment like this to pull their friendship back together. He felt her arms slip around him in return and smiled into her hair.

"If you ever tell anyone about this… I'll do more than raise your debt… I'll kill you in your sleep," she whispered lowly and he found a small chuckle escape his lips as she pushed him towards the exit of the crow's nest.

"I can smell dinner. Sanji will be calling up here any second and I would rather stay on watch," she said. She would be fine, she was a strong girl. Whatever was going through her head was none of his concern, he was just glad she was acting more normal.

"If I don't fall asleep I'll bring you up a plate," he offered before he clambered down to join the rest of his crew for dinner.

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><p><strong>AN: **Okay first ZoNa fic and it was more of a friendship thing, (Romance if you squint at it hard enough). I really wish there were more friendship stories out there... well I hope everyone enjoyed and I hope Zoro wasn't too out of character. He did seem a bit more open but he was drinking alcohol everyone :p.


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